Read New Title 1 for Free Online

talk about it for a few minutes?”
    Shay Vaughn regarded him sympathetically, and nodded. “I understand.” She put her tumbler on the coffee table, next to his, and shifted around to drape an exquisitely-toned arm over his shoulder. Lambert allowed himself to slump into the divan, and Shay rested her head lightly against his, gently caressing his temple with her hand as she held his hand with the other.
     
     

3: Plans
06Aug2229
    “Daddy, help me! I can’t find my ledlight!”
    “Oh, Erin,” Calvin sighed the universal sigh of barely-tolerant parental frustration, “every time we have to go through this…”
    “It was
right here
!” his daughter retorted as she dug through her desk drawers haphazardly, shoving things around in one drawer with one hand while pulling items from another drawer out onto the floor with the other. Her eyes always seemed to be engaged with the hand that was doing the least at any one time. “I just had it last week!”
    “Keep looking,” Maria called from the kitchen. “Let your father finish his work.”
    “Or it won’t matter whether you find your ledlight,” Calvin added from his office. He tried to tune out his daughter’s continued pleas for her mother to help her look, while he bent over his workstation. He was finishing his last report for
On High
, the Verdant news agency that regularly commissioned him for science-related commentary and consultation, and officially the last thing he had to do before he and his family could go on their camping trip. He was intent on finishing it quickly, because he suspected if he waited too long, he would be dragged into the mess going on down on Earth, and although he would not have said so aloud—because it would be bad for his reputation—he hoped to avoid it, at least for a few days.
    The sudden cessation of commotion, and desperate voices, from Erin’s room indicated that she had found her ledlight, as Cal knew she would… crisis-of-the-minute over.
Good: Just need a good wrap-up
…
    “Honey, should we bring the large jar of sauce for the barbeque, or will the small one be enough?”
    Cal managed to avoid jumping at his wife’s sudden appearance at the office doorway, but he could not hide the fact that his train of thought was broken by the interruption. Doing his best to mask his irritation, he looked at his wife, and the two jars she held in her hands. “Bring the large one, dear,” he said quickly.
    “Oh.” Maria bit her lower lip. “I broke your concentration… sorry, honey!” She elevated the large jar and smiled. “Large jar it is.” Then she hurried back to the kitchen.
    “Sauce…” Cal muttered, as he tried to get his concentration back. “Ingredients… secret ingredient…” After a moment, his fingers flew across the keyboard. His muse appropriately piqued, his words came faster and faster, until he was audibly humming in an increasing crescendo as he neared the end. Abruptly, he stopped typing, and humming, and he leaned forward to examine the words he’d just deposited on the workstation screen. Then he lifted a hand as he said, “Aaannndd…” he quickly brought the hand down and struck the key to send the report off. “Done!”
    “Good for you, Cal,” Maria was saying, but Calvin was already out of his chair and heading for the bedroom. He noted that his wife’s voice did not sound as enthusiastic as he would have liked… he hoped he was over-reacting. But as he passed by his daughter’s room, he caught Erin’s eye, and she gave him a look that spoke volumes.
It was going to be another one of
those
camping trips
.
    “Finish your packing,” Calvin admonished his daughter as he passed by her room. “If we’re fast, we can be out of here in—” He stopped speaking when he reached his bedroom. There, next to his half-finished backpack, was his wife’s pack, which had not been started. “Oh, jeez,” he whispered, then, in a louder voice, “Maria!”
    “Well, I had to finish